The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The United Nations has appointed a special envoy to evaluate whether lack of access to affordable housing in New York is so bad it violates basic human rights.

October 25 - The New York Times

The problems facing urban America can be exemplified by looking at the city of Las Vegas, according to this piece from the Brookings Institution's Mark Muro.

October 25 - Citiwire

A recent move that exempted a proposed Southern California football stadium's plans from environmental review may turn out to be precedent-setting for other cities looking to revamp their sports arenas.

October 24 - Los Angeles Times

Planning students from New York-area universities are being integrated into the city's community boards through an innovative new fellowship program.

October 24 - The Architect's Newspaper

The federal government has dedicated $8 billion to high speed rail projects. But with $50 billion worth of proposals, the challenge lies in how best to divide the funds.

October 24 - The New York Times

GIS folks are Twittering about this new addition to Google Maps. Blogger Joe Francia talks to Michael Jones, Google's chief technology advocate, about what the new data means, and where it's coming from.

October 24 - All Points Blog

NY MTA Head Jay Walder is considering lowering fares for off-peak hours riders in order to encourage people to change their habits.

October 24 - Streetsblog

Benches that dump you for sitting too long, trash cans that spit your recyclables back out- will the Sentient City lack empathy?

October 23 - BBC News

Citing prohibitive costs and the use of light rail or bus rapid transit, the expansion of Miami's Metrorail has not been included in Miami-Dade County's 10-year transportation plan. Yet, County officials suggest expansion is still a priority.

October 23 - Miami Today

With one of the smallest and busiest airports in the country, San Diego is thinking about upgrading its facilities. One idea is to build a new airport on the ocean.

October 23 - The Infrastructurist

Commissioners in Miami have voted to replace the city's use-based zoning code with a form-based code, dubbed Miami 21, which had been in the works for years.

October 23 - The Miami Herald

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has announced a ten-point plan to turn his city in the greenest in the world by 2020.

October 23 - The Vancouver Sun

Global warming is a problem, says climate scientist Jonathan Foley, but it's not the only one. The other major problem facing the global environment is a pattern of land use for agriculture that is grossly unsustainable.

October 23 - Yale Environment 360

Developers and NYC's Mayor Bloomberg have hit a speed bump in revitalizing the Gowanus Canal. It may be designated as a Superfund site.

October 23 - The New York Times

This post from <em>The City Fix</em> discusses the new bus rapid transit system that just opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, and why the system was sorely needed.

October 23 - The City Fix

GE is going to power the world's largest carbon capture and sequestration project for western Australia, in order to process natural gas from its Gorgon natural gas field.

October 23 - Environment News Service

The Port of Long Beach has settled with the American Trucking Association to clean up its air, while the Port of Los Angeles is waiting to reach more comprehensive changes.

October 23 - Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p> After four years of political wrangling, hundreds of public and internal meetings, several revisions, and one determined planning department, consultant team, and Mayor, the City of Miami made urban planning history tonight by adopting the largest known application of a form-based code. In doing so, Miami has catapulted itself to the forefront of those large American cities serious about implementing smart growth.  </p>

October 22 - Mike Lydon

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that allows developers of a planned football stadium in Southern California to bypass environmental laws and speed up the planning process.

October 22 - Los Angeles Times

A Stanford professor and a UC Davis researcher say we could make the switch to 100% renewable energy by 2030... if we really want to.

October 22 - Fast Company